Japan's supreme court has ruled a defunct eugenics law that forced sterilizations on thousands of disabled people as unconstitutional.
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00:00Bittersweet celebrations in the streets of Tokyo after Japan's top court ruled a defunct
00:07eugenics law violated the country's constitution.
00:11In place from 1948 to 1966, the legislation forced around 25,000 people with intellectual
00:19disabilities and certain hereditary diseases to undergo surgery to prevent them from having
00:24children.
00:26Enforced by the Japanese government to curb the deterioration of quality offspring.
00:31The victims as young as nine years old.
00:3616,500 of those sterilised were made to against their will and some without their
00:53knowledge using physical restraints and anaesthesia, while 8,000 who underwent the procedure with
01:00consent were pressured to do so.
01:04This ruling ends a six year battle for fair compensation.
01:08In 2019, new law saw the government offer survivors around $20,000 and an apology, but
01:15some claimed the payment was insufficient for their suffering.
01:1911 of 39 plaintiffs that battled lower courts to have their compensation claims heard by
01:23the country's top court were granted damages of up to $100,000.
01:29The Supreme Court saying for the state to evade responsibility for damages payments
01:34would be extremely unfair and unjust and absolutely intolerable.
01:40The other cases are still pending.
01:42Some say they're satisfied with the apology.
01:58But for others living with the trauma and in some cases lifelong medical complications
02:03of unsafe sterilisations, this landmark ruling has paved the way for more survivors to bring
02:09compensation claims to court.
02:12This is Devon Tsai and Rosie Greninger for Taiwan Plus.